The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Monday, notified a hike in power tariff by Rs4.34 per unit in the wake of fuel cost adjustment (FCA)for the month of July which would put an extra burden of Rs59 billion on the public.
The raise, which will reveal in the electricity bills of September, will be applicable to all categories of consumers except for lifeline customers of all Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) and DISCOs.
Earlier on August 31, a public hearing was conducted by Nepra on the petitions put forward by the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) on behalf of DISCOs which had sought an FCA of Rs4.69/unit.
The body, then, decided to allow the ex-Wapda distribution companies (XWDiscos) to collect additional Rs4.3435 per unit from the electricity users in their bills for the month of September.
Power Generation in the Month of July
Following are some of the statistics shared by Nepra regarding the total power generation through various means in the month of July:
- Total power generation from all sources in July was recorded at 14,150.91 GWh, at an average per unit cost of Rs10.7093/unit
- Hydel generation was 4,976.93 GWh constituting 35.15 %
- Coal-fired power plants generation at 1,802.19 GWh (12.74%) at a price of Rs20.2176/unit
- High-speed diesel (HSD) based generation was at 205.97 GWh (1.46%) at a cost of Rs27.8886/unit
- Power generation from mixed sources was 16.92 GWh at a price of Rs4.7567 per unit
- Moreover, electricity generation from nuclear sources was 2,009.54 GWh (14.2%) at Rs1.0493/unit
“Despite the clear direction of the Authority to prepare the merit order on actually available fuel(s), the merit order is still being prepared on old consideration i.e. with indigenous natural (pipeline quality) gas, while this fuel is not available to plants since last 2/3 years. The current merit order list with non-available fuel is nothing but to mislead or confuse the stakeholders,” the Nepra decision said in an additional note.
It further directed all relevant departments responsible for the preparation of the merit order lists to take instant action to revise it on the basis of fuel(s) that are available.